http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HeCUwiBFb2Y
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s 2013 Python Challenge ends Sunday. The event has drawn more than 1,500 people from around the country to South Florida to try capturing Burmese pythons threatening the Everglades. Participants have bagged about 50 snakes so far. However, the Python Challenge is as much about education as it is about helping to control the spread of the invasive snake.
Going along with that education component is a series of hands-on python capture training sessions conducted by the Nature Conservancy. “We work with the FWC, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, on the removal of invasive species,” said Capt. Jeffrey Fobb with the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department’s Venom Response Unit. “Because of that work, I had experience catching these snakes, and it kind of fit because we have procedures and policies. We’ve been doing it long enough where we understand how to do it safely. We understand the animals’ behavior.”
What began as Burmese python pets escaping or being released in South Florida has now grown into an endemic breeding population in the Everglades. The pythons are prolific breeders, reaching sexual maturity in just two to three years, with the ability to lay more than 100 eggs in a single clutch. It isn’t known exactly how many of the large snakes are thriving in the Everglades, but biologists estimate their numbers could be as high as 100,000.
While state wildlife officials have brought national media attention to the problem through the 2013 Python Challenge, getting more residents with hands-on experience with the snakes is crucial.
“In the long run, it’s important that more than a small group of people participate because this is multi-jurisdictional,” said Fobb. “It’s not geographically isolated to the Everglades. The Everglades is a very large area. It’s around three million acres or so. So you need a lot of people to cover that ground.”
The free training program began in 2009 in the Florida Keys and expanded inland in 2010. So far more than three hundred volunteers have completed the training and stand at the ready, should they get a call about a python sighting in their area. That includes the two dozen people who took part in a recent training in Fort Myers. They included biologists, college students, state wildlife officers, and other environmental workers, although it’s open to anyone who’s interested. Nature Conservancy biologist Cheryl Millett runs the trainings with Fobb which she says is crucial for teaching proper technique. “Sometimes people will approach it, they’ll put the handle on its head to pin its head, but then hesitate way too long before they put their hand in there so the snake wiggles out,” said Millett. “They find that frustrating.”
Python capture trainee and Land Stewardship Coordinator with Lee County’s 2020 land conservation program took the free course because she spends a lot of time out in the woods and thought it would be a good idea to know how to handle a python, should she one day run across one. “I was scared actually, at first which surprised me because I’m not normally afraid of snakes,” said Jewell. “That’s kind of nice to know that I could be available to help someone else out and get one of them out of the wild. They don’t seem to be, from that map, all that common in Lee County, but hopefully we can keep it that way.”
Fobb says one of the most difficult aspects of capturing a python can be tiring out the snake before trying to wrestle it into a double-stitched cloth bag. That involves holding onto the snake’s tail as it enters ‘flight mode.’ “You can do that by tread-milling which is basically letting it crawl forward and using your hands to keep it from escaping,” said Fobb. “The thing is you want to avoid actually grasping them because when you grasp, it really changes the dynamic and the animal’s going ‘Hey! What’s going on?’ and they’ll turn around and defend themselves. Before that they think they’re getting away.”
Fobb also urges trainees to bring another person with them if they’re called to remove a nuisance snake. Besides the obvious safety reasons, a second person can make capture easier with one person acting as bait while the other responder can remain in the animal’s blind spot.
Rebecca Wallace with the Conservancy of Southwest Florida's education department also took part in a recent training to better help educate the public about these invasive snakes. “We do an alien invaders program that we do go out to the schools,” said Wallace. “So it is an, in case we end up getting a Burmese Python as a resident, that we can take him out to these programs.”
Scientists don’t know the full extent of the Burmese pythons’ negative impact on the Everglades ecosystems, but they’re known to be opportunistic feeders. Millett said more than 25 different native bird species have been found in their stomach contents along with a broad spectrum of other wildlife ranging from the small endangered Key Largo Wood Rat to the partially digested deer found in the belly of a 16 foot Python in 2011.
Removing only 50 from the wild may not do much but the Miami Zoo holds an education and awards event NEXT Saturday with cash prizes for Python Challenge participants touting the most number of snakes and the largest snakes.
Meanwhile Millett and Fobb continue their training sessions. They eventually plan to hand the program over to Florida Fish and Wildlife. The trainings are currently funded through the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
To report a suspected Burmese Python sighting in your area, call the FWC’s hotline: 1-888-IVE-GOT1 or document the sighting online: www.Ivegot1.org.
